For my first try at a professional Rubel statue I tried a very simple design based on his pose in this group shot. It was pretty quickly dubbed the "Oscar" piece, but hey, it's still a good pose. Incidentally, it was also directly influenced by Mark Hamil's silhouette when first confronting Vader at the end of The Empire Strikes back. That was such a strong image, I've always loved it.
The hair is better than on the rooftop piece but I still hadn't figured out jawbones. The eyes are sculpted, yet painted so he doesn't look like Lil' Orphan Annie.
Unlike the previous pieces, this one does not have a wooden base. The base this time was made of Sculpey baked into the bottom of a tuna can and the can cut away. The details are separate layers laid on after.
This piece has been through a lot actually, surviving more falls, bumps, crashes than any other statue I've made. It's true, Rubel must be made of rubber... though notice the missing left thumb, ironically it was not broken off in any impact, it simply fell off one day as I was sitting at my desk.
Weird.
The sketch above was actually done much later for the final prototype. The main addition being Varkias, who really is essential to Rubel's look. The rifle was added to provide an example of the series' intricate mechanical designs. The different base designs were an attempt to avoid him looking like a decoration on a birthday cake again.
The black patch on the base was a test of a chrome adhesive. Interesting stuff really, it's like superthin tinfoil with a tacky side. I got a sample of it in the mail from some modeling company and tried it out on everything.
